Restrooms for San Jacinto Plaza to be discussed

The city is again looking at restroom options for San Jacinto Plaza, including proposals to lease nearby private buildings or install portable toilets at other nearby Downtown park areas.

The City Council on Tuesday will consider the options, as well as other proposals to add restrooms to parks citywide that don’t qualify for them under current policy.

“The No. 1 amenity the public asked for in parks in a 2014 survey was restrooms,” said Tracy Novak, the city’s parks and recreation director.

Staff is recommending the city lease private property around the plaza for restrooms, citing that it’s the most cost-effective option that would provide on-site storage, support and the potential to locate other city services on the site, according to city documents.

The documents show one possibility is to lease space at the Banner Building on Mesa Street, which would cost the city $15,000 a year, or where a popular McDonald’s once stood across the plaza at a cost of about $54,000 a year. That doesn’t include improvement or maintenance costs for the facilities.

The plaza, which reopened in April 2016 after a three-year $6 million renovation, once had restrooms underground. The facilities were permanently closed in the 1990s after years of vandalism, trespassing and lack of maintenance, among other problems.

In December 2014 when the plaza was undergoing the renovations, the council rejected the idea of adding public restrooms because it was estimated to cost about $400,000, plus annual maintenance.

In summer 2015, the council again discussed the need for restrooms in the Downtown area but considered sites outside San Jacinto Plaza — at Aztec Calendar Park near the El Paso County Courthouse and at Cleveland Square by the El Paso Museum of History. The council considered installing portaloo restrooms — metal portable restrooms with open slats at the top and bottom and an anti-graffiti surface all around — but took no action. Each was estimated to cost about $90,000.

The council on Tuesday will also consider amending the city’s Park Restroom Policy that was established in 2009. Under that policy, only parks that are 12 acres or larger have public restrooms

There are more than 250 parks citywide, 14 of which have permanent restrooms and 26 which have portable ones, city documents show.

According to the documents, lowering the threshold to parks that are 10 acres or lager would make 11 additional parks eligible to get restrooms.

Another option is to look at the parks on a case-by-case basis and consider the distance from other public restrooms, how many people visit the park and whether the neighborhood supports or opposes the restrooms.

Novak said the costs would be addressed at either the upcoming budget process or at a future meeting.

Novak said the city has also not discussed the transgender rights issue stemming from President Barack Obama’s directive in May that public schools allow transgender students to use restrooms that match their gender identity. In response, many cities and businesses are also considering the implications of the directive to their restrooms.

Novak said current city policy calls for the designation of men’s and women’s restrooms and that users determine which to use.

“The city has not taken an official position on the matter,” Novak said.